Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twitter announces layoffs

sec.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 410 posts

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#21

Post by danso »

> The roadmap is focused on the experiences which will have the greatest impact. We launched the first of these experiences last week with Moments, a great beginning, and a bold peek into the future of how people will see what's going on in the world.

That Moments is mentioned so high up in the email isn't particularly reassuring...since it means they haven't launched many other initiatives of note recently. Moments as a feature is extremely disappointing given the years of interesting discoveries that Twitter has yielded algorithmically via its, well, "Discover" tab. What's on Moments looks like a half-baked newspaper front page except when you click on an item, you go to tweets about that item instead of a full story.

I don't want to pile on the project as it is new...but it should've been given more thought and design time given how much prominence "Moments" has on the interface (it is one of four main icons on the menubar)...Nearly all of the stories are hours old...e.g. "Wave of terror attacks hits Jerusalem" and "Playboy covers up"..."FedEx truck splits in two", granted, is news to me...but not something that makes Twitter unique to me.

There's so much more potential in the Trends section...OK, maybe Twitter wants to filter out potentially visually NSFW topics like #NoBraDay...but things like #MH17 and #VMworld and #ILoveYouAboutAsMuchAs...just show me an automated feed of tweets by reputable sources (rather than spambots or random kids) so I can understand why these topics are suddenly trending without having to click through the trends tag and sort through a overwhelming timeline.

edit: that said, I like all the other products...besides core Twitter, Vine and Periscope are standouts (at least, as a consumer)...I just think that "Moments" isn't worth putting into the spotlight, unless there is literally nothing else to be proud of publicly.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#22

Post by mrweasel »

I'm a little surprised that they're only firing 336 people. Unless this is just the first round of layoffs and more will follow once products and management has been streamlined/trimmed whatever you want to call it.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#25

Post by moron4hire »

dj-wonk wrote: post #7
xmpir wrote: post #5

Why is this email on sec.gov?

I'm guessing the fact that this email shows up on the SEC web site may have to do with this: > Per Chapter 4, Part 4, Sections 1400-1408 of the Labor Code, WARN protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring that employers give a 60-day notice to the affected employees and both state and local representatives prior to a plant closing or mass layoff. http://www.edd.ca.gov/jobs_and_training/Layoff_Ser…

No, that would have been put on the Department of Labor site.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#26

Post by vdnkh »

jacques_chester wrote: post #24

I think the engineers will be in a good position. The rest, I'm not as sure.

>We feel strongly that Engineering will move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team

What percentage of 336 cuts would produce a team that is smaller and nimbler, I wonder? It sounds like engineers not on the "greatest impact" projects will be cut.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#27

Post by MaximillianII »

coldpie wrote: post #13
MattBearman wrote: post #10

"Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight." Three paragraphs later... "So we have made an extremely tough decision: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company." Edit: My bad, I should have been clearer in what I meant. There isn't really any corporate speak, but I wouldn't call 3 paragraphs of fluff 'giving it to you straight'

What about that seems like corporate speak to you?

not OP, but what was announced 3 paragraphs later could have been written in the same sentence: "Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company."

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#28

Post by atmosx »

wesleytodd wrote: post #4
ChrisLTD wrote: post #2

"The world needs a strong Twitter, and this is another step to get there." Let's not get carried away here. Twitter is great. I use it too much of the day. But the world hardly needs Twitter.

In fact, many places in the world did need twitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Revolution

> In fact, many places in the world did need twitter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Revolution

LOL, sure as hell. Twitter was blocked in most of these countries (and Turkey too). The outcry was huge, but guess what... They 'survived'.

Twitter is just a medium. The preferred medium for some. There are countless alternatives nowadays, no one needs twitter.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#29

Post by zecho »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #2

"The world needs a strong Twitter, and this is another step to get there." Let's not get carried away here. Twitter is great. I use it too much of the day. But the world hardly needs Twitter.

We very much need twitter. What other platform is there for teens to say 'DADDY' to world leaders? What other platform is their for those world leaders to put their feet in their mouth? These are the important things to online bullies and comedians.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#30

Post by jhwhite »

Maybe I'm a little self centered but this line:

> We will honor them by doing our best to serve all the people that use Twitter.

seems a little pep talky to me for the people left.

I feel saying this would have been better:

> We will honor them with the utmost respect for each and every person. Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual by providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job.

Post reply on HN